PEOPLE won’t like me for saying this but the Christmas season has become an irritant. Not the spirit of Christmas itself, mind you, because the story of a baby born in a manger a long time ago remains a spectacle of fiction and faith. It is how we have come to celebrate the days leading to the 25th of December and the entire December itself and November declared as the longest celebration of Christmas in the world. It is all commerce and gross exploitation. Businessmen make us believe this tale and they are all running with glee to the banks as we go into conspicuous consumption all in the spirit not of the manger but of money.
I still believe Christmas is about humility and simplicity.
In this regard, I come up with this list of wishes all related to the world of entertainment and cinema, where humility is almost taboo and where denizens are used to being wealthy at the expense of their fans.
In no particular order, here is my Christmas wish list.
• That the newscasters be humble enough to stick to reading the news.
They are there for their looks, personality, a bit of gravitas even. Count in a good voice and good diction. Their reading, of course, depends on good newswriters who may not be lookers but should have a good measure of wit and wisdom—and good grammar between their ears. News reporting is different from annotating. If these newscasters’ mouths itch always to make comments, then they should move on to talk shows where they could make comments and side and snide remarks and be paid for it. The assumption also that as newscasters they should be allowed to comment rests on the following: a disrespect and lack of trust on news writers; a twisted view of their audience as dumb herd needing explanations and elaborations so they could have a better grasp of the news; and an arrogance about their own power as speakers and raconteurs.
• The second wish is related to the preceding: I wish that newscasters see the light of day so that they could revisit dictionaries and languages.
Enough with “naglalagablab na mga balita” or news that are in flames. Let’s leave the fires and flames to The Hunger Games franchise and stick to communicating in the most lucid way. Soundbites are fine but when you say the same things over and over, then that’s pure laziness and lack of creativity. Show the newscasters that you, as writers, are worthy of their respect. Perhaps, a well-written piece of news could even be a deterrent to newscasters offering oral footnotes and citations.
• I wish that the unholy alliance between show business and politics be terminated.
Actors should not mistake their popularity onscreen big or small as a sign that they should run for office and serve the people. Actors and other beings linked to films and television are born or nurtured generally to be the object of admiration. They will never be good servants, although politicians are not really servant-leaders. That concept is an idealized textbook case. Congressmen and senators and mayors and village chiefs serving the people? As my nephew always says, “You’re kidding, right.” The same can be said about actors and actresses who want to serve the people. You’re kidding, right?
• I wish that a serious audience development program be developed in this country.
This wish has something to do with the indies still suffering from their exotic and esoteric image. It is about time to work on the perception of the audience of independent cinema being nothing more than dark and quirky. There is a gem out there in many of the works of independent directors, and the formation of a body to oversee activities that could bring these new films to a broader audience is significant. The flipside of this coin is the realization that the only way for us to save the Filipino moviegoing audience from mainstream trash and trite themes is to provide them with films that deal with themes which enable people to think. I think it is already very clear that cinema is not meant merely to entertain but also to teach. It is time to tell audiences that the reason why they continue to watch the so-called blockbusters from major media companies is because of the programs that have been embedded in our viewing culture. These are programs that insidiously feed the audience with data about actors and actresses. These are extra-cinematic elements, things that have nothing to do with the film itself. I often wonder if fans, for example, are aware that the reason there are big stars is because they created that bigness. In other words, these actors and actresses become endorsers of all sort of products that fans are supposed to buy. These actors and actresses get the money and their fans are turned into ready consumers.
• I wish that the MTRCB be as critical of the people they hire to assess and evaluated cinema as they are of the films that come their way.
Giving a horror film an X rating is more horrifying than the images of any good or bad horror films. I pray this body thinks seriously how a good critique goes. As in the past, it happens that a gap is formed between the MTRCB and the people whose mental and emotional health it is ostensibly protecting. At this point, does the MTRCB have really an updated profile of the consumers of film and TV? While we are on this issue, is the MTRCB looking at the child actors and actresses being used in many telenovelas? One case in point is the little girl in Two Wives from ABS-CBN. That girl is asked to mouth lines that make her sound she is the other wife in this ludicrously vulgar soap opera.
• My most difficult wish is this: that the Metro Manila Film Festival regain its lost glory.
With this wish comes the prayer that the producers and their actors and actresses also realize that the films they make eventually go into the consciousness and the subconscious of the Filipino. Is this case of “hindi maabot ng isip?” Do these people ever think that what they are making are really senseless chatter that passes off as family entertainment? What is family entertainment?
This reminds me of that insipid MTRCB campaign that precedes every film screening, which can easily make people regret having gone to the movies, or perhaps even think that Santa Claus is dead. In that insufferable bit on the MTRCB’s ratings guide, a family is unable to decide which movie to watch because the films are rated differently. Finally, this quai-family settles on a film that will admit everyone, this with the help of the family’s youngest and most petulant and most annoying member who must have gotten a horrible stylist. This is an example of a campaign that confuses because it has made things simplistic. So simplistic that even people who have gone through frontal lobotomy would be deeply offended.
Ultimately, common sense may not be common at all. Perhaps, humility is easier to understand—and practice. Christmas is here, but we really do not need to look for the Star to be enlightened.